*Duncan helps Spurs continue its best start in franchise history*
SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The San Antonio Spurs continued its best start in franchise history at the expense of one of its former assistant coaches.
Tim Duncan scored 26 points and Tony Parker added 22 and seven assists as the Spurs held off the Seattle SuperSonics, 116-101, on Sunday.
With the game tied at the break, San Antonio scored the first 12 points of the third quarter and never trailed during the second half.
The Sonics closed the deficit to as little as four points at 101-97 with 5:11 left on a jump shot by Nick Collison, but Parker scored six straight points to boost the lead back up to 10 with under three minutes to play.
Manu Ginobili netted 22 points off the bench for the Spurs, who have won five games in a row and are 12-2 for the first time in their 34-year history.
The Sonics dropped to 2-12 on the season under first-year coach P.J. Carlesimo - an assistant for the Spurs during the previous five seasons. It is also the worst start for Seattle since the 1967-68 season when the club began 2-14.
Wally Szczerbiak scored 27 points to lead the Seattle, which is winless at Key Arena this season and has lost six straight at home for the first time since 1985.
Rookie Kevin Durant enjoyed one of his best games of the season for the Sonics, making his first seven shots en route to scoring 25 for the game on 11-of-17 shooting.
Seattle scored the game's first eight points before San Antonio rallied back to take a 32-30 lead after the first.
The Spurs led by as many as eight in the second quarter, but the Sonics came back behind Szczerbiak's 20 second-quarter points, tying the game at 64-64 at the break.
